News report on rancher's killer irks Cochise sheriff

by Dennis Wagner - May. 4, 2010 12:00 AMThe Arizona Republic

Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever on Monday denounced a news report that said the March murder of southern Arizona rancher Robert Krentz was not random and was committed by an American or a person recently in the United States.

Carol Capas, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff's Office, said Dever characterized the story in Monday's Arizona Daily Star as "inaccurate and irresponsible."

The newspaper, quoting unnamed, "high-ranking government officials," at first reported that the killer is believed to be an American. That was corrected with an editor's note saying that the nationality of the shooter remains unknown. A subsequent Associated Press story, also based on an unidentified source, said the killer is a Mexican citizen.

Still, the Star's report appears to conflict with statements by Dever and others who have speculated that the assailant was an undocumented immigrant working for Mexican drug cartels.

In an e-mail, Star executive editor Bobbie Jo Buel said the paper maintains that "Cochise County is investigating a person in the United States, not in Mexico. . . . The Star's sources have not identified the person's nationality to us."

Capas said detectives have no leads on a suspect - not even the person's nationality or gender. "The information that we have is still the same as what we released early on," she added. "The investigation is active and ongoing."

Krentz's death outraged southern Arizona ranchers and served as a catalyst for the national furor over border violence, becoming an important argument in the debate about Arizona's tough new immigration-enforcement law signed last month by Gov. Jan Brewer.

Krentz was gunned down March27, one day after his brother, Phil, helped the Border Patrol arrest eight suspects and seize nearly 300 pounds of marijuana on the family ranch. Phil Krentz told authorities that, a short time before the slaying, his brother made radio contact and said something about an "illegal alien."

That statement, and the discovery of footprints leading 20 miles to the Mexican border, promoted the theory that Robert Krentz's assailant was of Mexican origin. Capas said deputies still believe the tracks belonged to the shooter.

She said the Sheriff's Office continues working on leads, some of which were generated by a $45,000 reward for information leading to a suspect's arrest and conviction.